Railroaders slow down, drop four straight after hot start

Cleburne loses four in a row to Winnipeg and Lincoln after 4-0 start

CLEBURNE and LINCOLN – After starting hot and winning their first four games of 2024, the Cleburne Railroaders dropped four straight against the Winnipeg Goldeyes and Lincoln Saltdogs.

After beating Winnipeg 5-4 Saturday and 1-0 Sunday in Cleburne for their third and fourth straight wins to start the season, the Railroaders lost the last two of the six-game season-opening series. The team failed to replicate the consistent pitching paired with solid offense that helped them jump out to the 4-0 start. 

Though the offense did slow in back-to-back shutout losses to Winnipeg, the pitching staff in those two games didn’t help as the Railroaders lost 16-0 Monday and lost 9-0 Tuesday at La Moderna Field.

Kasey Kalich was credited with the loss in Tuesday’s 9-0 blowout, surrendering six earned runs off eight hits and striking out three batters over three and 2/3 innings in his second start of 2024.

Pitching stayed relatively consistent in the series against Lincoln but the offense could not pick up the slack.

Juan Hillman (0-1) and Jonathan Tripp were examples of consistent pitching with little run support.

Hillman surrendered one run and struck out five batters over 10 and 2/3 innings pitched across two starts last week—May 11’s 5-4 win over Winnipeg and Thursday’s 6-1 loss in Lincoln. 

Tripp struck out four batters in five shutout innings in Cleburne’s 2-1 loss to Lincoln Friday. 

Among the Railroaders’ strugglers at the plate were Brett Boswell—2-for-23 last week and batting just .103 in eight games in 2024—and Brian O’Grady–1-for-17 last week after hitting two home runs in Cleburne’s first two games. O’Grady is batting .167 with two home runs and three RBIs in 2024.

When the week started off good for Cleburne with their wins at home against Winnipeg, Jaxx Groshans got one of his two hits with a walkoff home run in the 5-4 win May 11.

Cleburne would get the 1-0 victory over Winnipeg May 12 with a solid pitching performance by Kyle Johnston in his season debut. Johnston pitched five shutout innings, giving up just four hits and striking out six. Carter Aldrete scored the only Cleburne run with a solo shot in the fifth.

Chris Muller also pitched well in three appearances last week giving up four hits in three and 1/3 shutout innings. Muller has a 1.92 ERA in four games this season.

Shed Long—batting .345 this season—was an offensive bright spot for Cleburne, leading the team with seven hits in 21 at-bats last week and knocking in the lone run in Friday night's loss with an RBI double in the sixth. 

Once Cleburne finishes their weekend series in Lincoln, they head to South Dakota to start a three-game series against the Sioux Falls Canaries before coming back home to La Moderna Field to host a four-game series against the Fargo Moorhead RedHawks.